Have you customized your LinkedIn Public Profile? Did you even know that you had one, or what it is? If you answered no to either question you have limited the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile and reduced your online exposure to new connections, partners, and clients. Not customizing and using your LinkedIn Public Profile is like building a website, giving it an obscure hard to remember name, and not telling anyone what the address is. No one would ever find your website, right? Well, maybe some would find it in Google searches, but if you had some odd website address that no one could remember, those that did find it might never come back, or tell others about you. It’s a plan to fail, but can be easily corrected with a few simple actions. A customized name that’s easy to use and remember, and will inspire others to click through to your profile to learn more about you and your ministry. Now, let’s get started.

A LinkedIn Public Profile is your LinkedIn Profile’s URL, or web address. If you don’t customize it, LinkedIn will assign a default address when you set up your profile. The default address will include your name, usually with dashes between first, middle, and last, and will have a series of seemingly random numbers, letters, and slashes after it. If you customize it, it will be easy to remember, easy to use, and look a lot more professional, thus encouraging others to go to your LinkedIn profile.

If I did not customize my LinkedIn Public Profile, it might look something like:

The second address is clearly much easier to remember, and therefore use. I can use it in emails, business cards, brochures, in books, on CDs & DVDs, on Blogs, and even at the end of a Video to direct readers to find out more about me. Another subtle advantage of a customized LinkedIn URL is it tells other LinkedIn users that you know your way around LinkedIn!

Here’s how to Customize your LinkedIn Public Profile URL:

Let your mouse hover over “Profile” in the LinkedIn tool bar.

Click on “Edit Profile”.

Click on “Edit” just to the right of your current LinkedIn Public Profile (See “Step 3” illustration below)

Click on “Customize your public profile URL” at the bottom of the “Customize your Public Profile” box on the right side of the page. (See “Step 4” illustration below)

Enter your name without spaces, symbols, or special characters. You can use just an initial for your first and/or middle names but remember, the best address is one that is clearly you, and easy to remember. (See “Step 5” illustration below)

Of course, a customized LinkedIn URL is all for not if your LinkedIn profile is not complete. Check out other Linked4Ministry articles, and stay tuned for future tips to learn more about building a great LinkedIn profile.

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